


I need you now tonight

by Digitallywriting



Series: It must be love-Harringrove short stories [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy comes back to life, Fluff, Kind of angsty, M/M, Post Season 3, Purgatory, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 20:03:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20494559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Digitallywriting/pseuds/Digitallywriting
Summary: Billy was never possessed by the Mind-flayer but still gave his life to save El and his sister. Stuck in purgatory, Billy laments his life and gets to see how the people closest to him have been dealing with it.





	I need you now tonight

Billy opened his eyes to darkness. At first, he thought he was back in Starcourt Mall, that everyone had just left him there, but no. There was no ceiling above him, just an endless dark abyss. Surprisingly, he didn't hurt; surprising because, as he recalled, he had just been impaled from all sides by a massive flesh monster. He sat up with little effort, feeling up his sides and front. No gaping wounds, no stitches, just smooth skin. Maybe it had been a dream, he thought. But he wasn't in his bedroom, he didn't know where he was. Darkness surrounded him, everywhere he looked. There was not a single glimmer of light, even the floor was just...an abyss. He scrambled to his feet, pulse rising quickly in fear. He turned in a circle, every direction looking the same as the last.   
"Hey!" He called, the sound dying as quickly as it left his mouth.   
"Hello?" A cold feeling of loneliness swept over him. He was afraid, alone, did anyone know where he was? No, of course not, he had died.   
He was dead.   
It hit him with the force of a truck, the fact that he had died, was dead. He stood up in front of that monster so that El could getaway. He had sacrificed his life for that kid, and all the other. He barely knew them, hardly liked them, and he had willingly given his life for them all.   
Steve was the only exception. Oh god, Harrington. He never saw him during the battle, too busy trying not to get him or El killed. He remembered catching his eye briefly before they all entered the Mall.  
'Stay safe in there', Steve had said to him. Billy had cocked a smile at him, brushing his hand carefully along the back of Steve's.   
'I'm always careful, Pretty Boy.' Billy would have hugged him, wanted to press his lips against Steve's for what would have been the last time (although he didn't know it yet), but he couldn't, not when everyone and their mother was readying themselves for a fight around them. Steve smiled faintly at him, wincing through the pain it caused him. His face had been hurt pretty badly, by Russians he said. Had the curly kid not done away with the fuckers, Billy would have been down there in an instant, to teach them a lesson. No one fucking touches his boyfriend. 

He didn't know what happened to Steve, the last person he saw was his sister. Her tormented face, her screams, muffled by the rushing blood in his ears. Her face told him everything he could ever have wanted to know: she forgave him, she was sorry it had to end this way. Billy guessed it was her closure to him, but he never got to tell her just how sorry he was, how much he hated himself for taking his pain and anger out on her. She never did anything wrong, it was never her fault. 

Billy walked, what direction he had no idea, he just, walked. He wondered if his legs would start to ache if his eyes would grow heavy. Maybe he would get hungry, he didn't know how the afterlife worked. He wasn't even sure that there was an afterlife, he was fully prepared to have to spend the rest of eternity in nothingness. Well, he guessed that was what he was doing now, but at least he still had some semblance of consciousness.   
He ended up walking for what he thought was days, unsure of what his purpose was here if he had any. He figured this wasn't heaven, no angels or fluffy clouds or cute puppies. But he wasn't in hell either, or whatever he thought hell would look like. This was just some endless purgatory.   
Bored of walking, he collapsed down onto the ground, wrapping his arms around his legs in the fetal position. He tried to push the crushing weight of his loneliness and confusion out of his mind.

"Billy! Billy, no, BILLY!" The echoes of Steve's voice filled the void, stirring Billy from his sleep. A bright glow surrounded him and he yelped when he realised he was no longer lying on the black floor. He stumbled to the edge of the glow, peering down into it, The unshapely silhouettes morphed and formed into solid figures. Billy watched as Steve writhed around in his bed, dried tears stained on his cheeks.   
"Steve! Steve, it's me, I'm here!"   
Steve shot up in his bed, panting heavily. He rested his face in both hands, taking several bracing breaths. Billy heard the sound of his bedroom door opening, and that girl, Robin, Steve had told him, ran in. She knelt on the floor by his bed and wrapped her arms around him. Steve fell into her arms, a sob breaking through him.   
"Another dream?"  
Steve nodded wordlessly. Robin rubbed his back soothingly. Billy felt a spike of jealousy. He knew it was ridiculous, but for all intents and purposes, Billy was dead. If Steve wanted to crack on with this Robin, Billy wouldn't blame him.   
But Steve made no advances on the girl, and Billy watched painfully as he cried in her arms for what must have been hours, until, eventually, his sobbing quietened and his breathing relaxed. Billy too, realised his cheeks were wet, and wiped at them hastily, forgetting there was nobody around to see him. Robin lay Steve back down on his bed, wrapping the covers over him and swaying the hair out of his face. She left and the picture changed, like a cutaway scene from a movie. Billy swore under his breath, completely disoriented and confused.   
The picture changed and Billy immediately recognised the red curtains and the posters on the wall as his bedroom. Sitting on his bed with one of his shirts wrapped in her fist, was Max. Her back was rising and falling quickly, and her hair was greasy from no showers. Billy wrinkled his now; she must stink. 

It didn't hit Billy until right then just how much his sister cared about him. He had some fucked up ways of showing how he felt, but he'd known max to wear her heart on her sleeve when it came to her feelings, especially the negative ones. But Billy had been so convinced that she hated him, it felt strange and fictional to him that she would ever mourn his death like this.   
She sat there, smelling his shirt like it would bring him back until Neil shouted up from downstairs.   
"Dinner's ready!"   
She dropped the shirt and ran out of the room. Billy wondered if whatever other-worldly being was showing him these would let him know what was going on with his father. But then again, why should he give a shit? neil obviously didn't care if he lived or died, and Billy was pretty sure that if that creature hadn't of killed him, Neil probably would have. Thankfully, nothing happened. Billy stared into his empty bedroom, the stillness of the objects, the fact that everything was exactly where he had left it before that fateful night, unnerved him. Hesitantly, Billy shuffled further forward to have a closer look in, see if he could see the bedroom door when the scenery changed so suddenly that he jumped. With a yelp, he plummetted forwards and, to his horror, right through. He fell for what felt like several minutes until a shimmering blue came up below him, and he fell headfirst into a swimming pool. He grappled with the rushing water, dragging himself up until his head broke through the surface. He sucked in a deep breath, blinking the chlorine out of his eyes. The commotion was enough to start a dog barking from over a fence. He heaved himself out of the pool, his clothes feeling ten times heavier. Was he alive? What the fuck was going on? Was he in heaven now? Hell? He pressed a shaky hand to his chest, feeling the rise and dip of his chest, the steady beat of his heart. Alive.   
He heard a door open, but his entire body felt too stiff to move.   
"Hey! What's going on out here?" The beautiful, incredible, angelic voice of Steve Harrington. So he was in heaven. Billy didn't know what to do, stay laying where he was and wait for Steve to find him, which could only go badly. Or call out to him. Either way, this wasn't going to be easy.   
"Stevie!" His voice was a lot weaker than it was meant to be. He heard Steve's footsteps start, then scrape to a stop almost straight away.   
"Fuck," he said. "Fuck what the fuck? I'm dreaming, I must be fucking dreaming." Steve ran over to Billy and fell hard on his knees next to him. His face came into view as he loomed over him, all puffy-eyed and snotty nose. The most beautiful person Billy had ever laid eyes on.   
"Oh. Oh my-oh-oh," It was the only word he said. Billy couldn't help but smile at him.   
"What the fuck are you smiling about? What the fuck is happening I-I saw your body I...watched you die."   
"I don't know what to tell you. One moment I was up there. next moment I'm falling into your pool."   
Steve grabbed Billy's hand and helped him up. The moment Billy was sitting, Steve pulled him into his arms roughly. He buried his face intot the crook of his neck. Billy rocked him gently, tears starting to well up in his own eyes.   
"You're here, you're here, you're here. You're okay." He kept muttering it over and over again. Billy pressed a kiss to Steve's hair.   
"I'm here, I'm here now. I love you, I'm here."   
They stayed like that, swaying each other comfortingly until the sun began to rise.


End file.
